


Daycare AU

by AdventurousLadder



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, They are all babey, at different levels, daycare AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21706984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdventurousLadder/pseuds/AdventurousLadder
Summary: It's the Hatchetfield lads but they're babey????(TGWDLM except it's at a daycare run by Carol Davidson, Mr. Davidson's wife, his muse, his source of life)
Relationships: Carol Davidson/Mr. Davidson, Chad/Henry Hidgens
Comments: 20
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

"I'm sorry but I have to go-"

"No!" a little girl latched herself to her mother refusing to leave her.

"Charlotte, honey, we already talked about this. That's why we brought Cornelius." the woman said putting the stuffed corn into her daughter's hands.

"But I don't want-"

"You can play with that nice little girl over there if you'd like." Charlotte's mother said sitting her on her legs to see the rest of the classroom. 

She was pointing to a little girl with glasses that were clearly too big for her head and braids that were already coming off. She was building a tower out of blocks but when they seemed to be too tall for her, she decided to build it up sidewards which gave her tower the appearance of a stop sign. The boy she was with, however, was making a small village with little houses.

"I don't like." Charlotte simply refused.

"Or how about that other girl. She seems nice."

She pointed at the only other little girl in the classroom. She was arm-wrestling a boy. It didn't seem to be fair as they were both using both hands to put each other's down. No one seemed to be winning and both of them were determined to win.

Charlotte shook her head.

"How about that boy? He's just reading." she pointed to a boy in the corner reading a book about dinosaurs. Charlotte nodded her head before coming to a realization. 

"But I can't read!"

"How can I forget?" her mother put a hand to her forehead. "You can always just talk to him. Maybe you two can play something together." she said. "Anyways, I have to go now. I can't be late for work."

"Okay." Charlotte said sitting in a chair with her stuffed corn, Cornelius who she hugged tightly as her mother left.

"Hi! What's your name?" a little girl approached her.

"Cornelius." she responded pointing at Cornelius, the stuffed corn.

"No. You."

"Charlotte."

"Hi, Charlotte. I'm Melissa." the girl said proudly introducing herself to a stuffed corn. "Charlotte, you want to play with us? Paul is being no fun." she pointed to a boy playing blocks. One of his houses has collapsed and he seems to be rebuilding it to be more structurally stable.

"Okay." she said joining the two of them.

"What are you doing?" Melissa asked Paul.

"I'm making Hatchetfield." he said showing off his creations. "This is the diner that you broke, this is the gas station, and this is the theater."

"I thought you hated the theater."

"Yeah." he said returning to work at his own miniature Hatchetfield.

"This is what _I_ made." Melissa said pointing to a pile of blocks on the floor.

"What's that?" Charlotte asked.

"I was going to make a tower but it fell and Paul won't help me. Wanna help?"

Charlotte set Cornelius down. "Okay." she said getting some blocks and started building it up.

"You're doing it wrong." Paul said after looking up at their work for a second. "You want the bottom to be fat not the top part."

"Okay." Charlotte said following his advice.

"That's wrong." Melissa answers back. "The bigger the top, the better the tower. Have you ever seen a castle?"

"No."

"Me neither." Melissa said as she continued building up the top of the tower.

The tower ended up looking like an umbrella. Sadly, it was not too structurally stable maybe because the top was very big.

* * *

"Bill! Ted says he won!" a little girl said exasperated. "But I know _I_ won!"

"I'm just stronger Emma!" Ted replied smugly.

"I think you should do a rematch." Bill said putting down his book to watch the two of them.

"We will." Emma said moving some hair out of the way.

She and Ted went into a ready position. Bill watched the two of them cautiously. He adjusted his collar and took a breath.

"Three, two, one, go!" he said and the two of them went at it. Emma quickly added a second arm and Ted was fast to follow. Ted started using his body weight to give himself more leverage and Emma tried to counter him by stepping on his foot. He fell to the floor in a dramatic heap. "Emma won." he said.

"No fair! She stepped on my foot."

"You put your whole body. It's supposed to be an arm wrestle!" Emma said trying to justify her actions.

"I guess we just have to do a rematch." Bill muttered quietly.

"I don't want to go again! That would be stupid, Bill!" Ted said shoving Bill onto the floor.

Bill, who was on the floor, was not trying not to cry because he is a big boy and big boys never cry. Emma noticed this and quickly helped him up.

"Why would you do that?! It's not his fault you're weak!"

"I'm not weak!" he quickly responded. "But I'm sorry." he turned to Bill. "I won't do that ever again." he turned back to Emma. "You suck!"

A silence filled the room for the next three seconds before being interrupted by a woman entering the room.

"Hello, guys!" the woman said looking out of breath. "How are you guys doing?"

"Who are you?" Ted asked.

"I'm Carol." she paused. "I'll be your teacher this year."

"What happens next year?" Charlotte asked.

"You'll probably get another teacher." she sat down at a keyboard at the front of the room. "Do you want to sing a song?"

"Yeah!" about half of them said.

Then Carol started playing the cleanup song.

They all sang along complete with some nonsensical choreography. It was clear that everybody was jamming to the cleanup song.

But no one seemed to be cleaning anything up. So Carol paused the song for a second. "Why is nobody cleaning up?"

"I don't know." Paul said.

"Because we're singing!" Emma said.

"Alright." Carol said. "But can you clean up your toys _while_ singing?"

The sound of tiny brains blowing up to some unfathomable knowledge filled the room. 

At that, Carol started playing the clean up song again. Paul was first to get up and start putting his little block houses away. The rest were quick to follow suit.


	2. Chapter 2

"Paul!" Melissa practically tackled Paul who just arrived in class for the day.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know I can braid hair?" she said flexing her braids.

"Didn't your mom do that?"

"No." she said pulling him closer to her. "Come here, I'll braid your hair."

She messed around with his hair hoping some sort of miracle will somehow turn Paul's hair into a beautiful braid. Unfortunately, it was not working. Maybe it was because there was not much hair to work with or maybe because she does not know how to braid hair. She grunted and told him off.

"Your hair's too short!" she said patting the top of his head making him flinch. "I can't braid this!"

"What?" Paul's voice cracked. As she left, he patted the top of his head feeling it to try to find out why Melissa would say such an insult. He could not find a reason other than the fact that it was too short. He put his hands off his head and set off on another mission: to cover his hair that is too short.

* * *

"Alright, class." Carol said at the front of the class. "Since you all were so great in class today, you can go play until the end of the day."

As the kids went off Carol made an announcement. "Also, I bought some new things for the dress-up corner." but they did not seem to hear.

Melissa saw it first.

It was a cartoonishly large crown covered with plastic jewels on the outside. She then pulled it out and put it on her head and pointed to Paul.

"I'm the queen! You work for me!" the ordered him.

"No, you're not! Give it to me!" he said trying to get the crown from her. "I need to cover my hair!" he raised his voice slightly.

Emma heard the argument and walked on over and just took the crown from Melissa's head. "Thank you, I'm the queen."

"Why are you the queen?" Melissa asked.

"Because I'm the smartest."

"Oh yeah?" Ted piped up. "What comes after 20?"

Emma.exe has stopped working.

She shook her head as she tried her hardest to come up with the answer but Ted interrupted.

"You don't know it? Do ya?" he taunted her as if he knew that the number 21 existed and took the crown and crowned himself much to everyone else's dismay.

"What is it then, Ted?" Emma asked.

Ted.exe has stopped working.

"Carol, what comes after 20?" Ted asked.

"It's 21, dear." she said before leaving the classroom to go have a coffee break.

* * *

Carol entered the other classroom across the hallway. It was run by none other than Mr. Chad Hidgens or as his students called him, Mr. Hidgens. Carol found this pretentious sometimes as her kids would just call her Carol most of the time.

He was the only classroom on the floor with a coffee maker. This was because he received this as a gift from his husband who frequented his class whenever he felt bored of dealing with academics.

She popped one in and got herself a little mug of coffee. Chad was at his desk, reading a book.

"Where're your kids?" she asked.

"They're outside for a moment. Henry's dealing with them today. Talking about plants and such." he said closing his book. "How about you?"

"They're just having playtime right now."

"Oh no." he replied. "Maybe you need some of this?" he said revealing a bottle of wine underneath his desk.

"No thanks." she said. "Maybe some other time. It's not that bad."

"Well, I think your class is a little worse than mine." he said taking a little swig of the wine. "The worst I got is this kid who's a living breathing republican propaganda machine."

"Oh no." Carol replies. "I'm just worried because I bought a crown for their dress-up box and I'm worried that they'll fight over it." she sighed as she realized her mistake. "I mean, these two kids I got never seem to stop fighting."

"Paul and Melissa?"

"No, Ted and Emma." she said. "Sometimes I worry I'll have to explain to their parents why their kids have bite marks from movie time."

"What movie were you watching?"

"Does it matter?"

"Maybe."

"The Emperor's New Groove?"

"I don't see why they'd bite each other."

"Me neither." Carol said pausing to look at her watch. It has been two whole minutes since she left the classroom. She has to be back soon because two minutes is enough to start a small fire.

* * *

"Why can't Carol be the queen?" Bill asked them.

"Because I'm the queen, Bill." Ted explained as it was obvious. "You read all the time. There must have been something-"

"The queen is the leader." Bill explained. "Carol is the oldest so she has to be the queen."

"But I'm the oldest!" Melissa said taking the crown back. "So I should be the queen."

"But you're short." Ted said. "I'm the tallest and that's better than being an old lady." he said.

"I'm smarter than you!" Emma said. "I know that 21 comes after 20!"

"What comes after?"

"Shut up!"

Everyone gasped at the use of such profanity. None of them could actually believe it. Bill looked around for Carol to sort out this issue but she was not in the room.

They were in the room, without Carol and someone just said a bad word.

"I just wanted to cover my short hair..." Paul added in quietly trying to cover his hair with his hands now as he has given up hope in becoming the king.

"But what if Cornelius is king?" Charlotte said holding up who should be the true leader in this class.

"Cornelius?! But he's just a corn!" Ted said in response, raising his voice.

"You said a bad word, Ted. Be quiet." Emma said gesturing at Melissa to put the crown on Cornelius. She put it on and they all seemed to just accept it. Even Ted seemed to have no snarky comments about it.

Carol came in the classroom to see Cornelius wearing a stupidly large crown while sitting on a chair in front of the room.

"What happened?" Carol asked the class. She looked around for answers and hoped that it was not a ritualistic sacrifice.

"Cornelius is the king." Charlotte answered curtly.

"Oh, you found the crown I bought." she said.

"Ted said a bad word." Bill said pointing at Ted as if Carol would be confused on who 'Ted' was.

"I did not!" Ted replied. "I just told you to shut up."

The kids gasped again.

"Ted," Carol said "you know you're not supposed to say those words."

"Whatever."

"If you do that again," she said more firmly "I will have to send you to the 'bad choices' corner."

The bad choices corner mocked the class. It was empty and ugly and had no fun. It would be a travesty to be sent here. Especially for something stupid


	3. Chapter 3

"I swear, I'm not _that_ sick, Ken. You're being dramatic." carol said dismissing her husband. She was already walking out the door with her bag but Ken grabbed her arm and he gave her a little look.

"You're not going to work today." he said sternly. "You better get some rest. Look at you. You're falling apart!"

"No, I'm not!" she said while leaning on the door to steady herself.

"Yes, you are." he said carrying her bridal-style to their bedroom.

"You know, Ken, it's a little too early for this." she said raising an eyebrow.

"That's not what I mean-"

"Who's gonna be with the kids today?" she said. "I'm not really sure if Henry's gonna be in today."

"I'll be in then." he said. "I didn't want to go to work anyways. What were you planning for today?"

"We were gonna read a book today. The- the-" she wracked her brain to remember the name of the book. "The Emperor's New Clothes."

"That's not gonna be a problem." Ken said before leaving the house.

"But-" Carol tried to get up to chase him but he was already gone.

* * *

Emma was teaching Paul how to make origami boxes. Paul was absolutely enamored by whatever she was doing. He tried to copy her but that only resulted with a wonky-looking paper box.

"Do you want another one?" Emma gave Paul another paper box.

"I already have six boxes. I don't need seven boxes." he said before adding this box to a pile of boxes next to him.

"Wait a minute." Emma said before getting the boxes and putting them into the other boxes making it act as a lid. "Now you only have three boxes and one box that you made."

"The box I made is ugly." he looked at his box with disgust. It was not very ugly as he said. The edges were just not as straight as he would have liked. But this was his first attempt which would explain the wonkiness.

"No it's not ugly." she replied. "It's special." she looked at his box and straightened out the edges a little bit.

"Is special good?"

"Special is very good."

At that moment, little Paul realized that some girls can be very cool.

The door opened to reveal a tallish person with a beard, glass and was a boy?

"Hello, kids." he said.

"Who are you?" Ted asked across the room. "Carol doesn't wear glasses."

"Well, my name is Mr. Davidson. I'm Carol's husband and I'll be your teacher today."

"Hi, I'm Ted! I'm _FIVE_ years old!" Ted introduced himself while making sure to emphasize how old and smart he was.

"Okay, buddy. That's nice." he said plopping down a case he brought with him on Carol's desk. "Is it time for a good morning song?"

"YEAH!" they all said and ran to the front of the class and sat in front of Carol's keyboard.

"Why did you go there?"

"Carol's piano's right here." Paul pointed at the piano. "She always uses the piano for morning song."

"Is that so?" Ken said opening the case he brought with him revealing a bright blue trumpet.

"What's that?" Bill asked.

"It's a trumpet. It's like a piano but I blow on it." he said demonstrating how to play.

Then he did. He inhaled and played a little tune on the trumpet. But he played a little too loud since all the kids immediately covered their ears.

"Loud!" Charlotte yelled while trying to keep her tears in.

Mr. Davidson put his trumpet down and looked at the class.

"I guess we're not doing morning song." he said hurriedly putting the trumpet away. "What does Carol normally do?"

"We watch movies!" Ted said.

"Alright, Ted. What movie shall we watch?"

"Can we watch Inside Out?" Ted suggested.

"Nope. Too sad. Any others?" Mr. Davidson looked for other ideas that wouldn't reduce him into a sobbing mess.

"Gnomeo and Juliet?" Charlotte suggested.

"Ew! That's for girls! Can we choose a boy movie?" Ted said.

"It's not a girl movie. There are boys." Emma said before realizing something important. "Wait, have _you_ watched Gnomeo and Juliet?" she burst into laughter. "Ted watches girl movies!"

"No, I don't!!" Ted said turning bright red.

"Stop it, will you." Mr. Davidson said catching their attention. "You, kid." he pointed to Paul who was politely raising his hand. "What do you want to watch?"

"Can we watch Big Hero 6?" Paul suggested.

"Are we choosing a movie?" the door opened to reveal everybody's favorite scientist. "Ken? Where's Carol?"

"She's sick." Ken said. "I'm covering for today."

"Do you need any help?"

"Yes, please." he said before he went inside.

"Professor Hidgens!" Emma said in joy. "Are we going outside today?"

Ken and Henry looked at each other to figure out what the heck they're going to do.

"Yes, we are. We are going to the playground for the rest of the day." Henry said. He did see Ken's confused face come on. "That is the easiest thing to do right now. I also think that it's good exercise."

* * *

"Melissa?" Paul said messing around on a see-saw with her.

"Yeah?"

"D'you know Emma is the coolest girl in the class?"

"WHAT?!" Melissa gasped and pushed down keeping Paul in mid-air. "I thought _I'm_ the coolest girl!"

"Nope." Paul shook his head trying to go down as well. It was not working. "She can make paper boxes."

"Paper boxes?" Melissa said. "I can do that too!"

"No, you can't."

"Yeah, I can." she pushed lower so that he could not play as one does on a see-saw. "I can do it so much better!"

"You're wrong!" he said. "You're just jealous!" he tried his best to get down. It was not working. Melissa was pushing down with all of her body weight. "Professor Hidgens!"

"Yes?" Professor Hidgens asked.

"Melissa's being mean!"

"No, I'm not!" she said before letting him down.

* * *

"So what brings you in today?" Henry asked.

"Carol's sick." Ken said. "And for some reason, she was so stubborn this morning."

"She's like that sometimes is she?"

"Yeah." he said. "Carol said you wouldn't be in here today. Why're you here?"

"Class was canceled today because the lab got destroyed last lesson."

"May I ask what happened?"

"Professor Hidgens, can I go back inside? Cornelius got dirty." Charlotte showed them a little patch of dirt that has appeared on Cornelius, the stuffed corn.

"Alright. Just be careful." Mr. Davidson said.

* * *

Charlotte began washing Cornelius when she saw someone else sitting on the bathroom floor.

"Bill?"

Bill screamed.

"Charlotte? What're you doing?"

"I'm cleaning Cornelius. He's dirty." she continued washing off the dark patch. "Why're you here?"

"I don't want to go out." Bill said returning to his book. "There's a stranger in our class today."

"Mr. Davidson?"

"Yes. Him." he put away his book. "Yesterday, we did 'stranger danger'. Is this not stranger danger?"

"He's not a stranger." Charlotte said. "He's Mr. Davidson. He's Carol's dad or something."

"Really?" Bill asked before the door opened with Mr. Davidson making sure Charlotte was doing okay.

"Hey kid, are you okay in there?" he said looking around in the bathroom. He then saw Bill. "Oh, hey buddy! How'd you get in here?"

"Are you really Carol's dad?"

Ken nervously chuckled. "I'm her husband. We're married." he said. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know..." Bill's voice faltered.

"You wanna go together when Cornelius's clean?"

"Okay."

Charlotte hurriedly finished washing Cornelius and ran with Bill to get to the playground for the rest of the day.


	4. Christmas Special

"Alright, guys. It's time to pick names for the Secret Santa!" Carol passed around a Santa hat to the class. They each picked a single name which they then opened and said out loud.

"Wait a second." Carol said getting all the pieces of paper back into the hat. "This time we should not say who we got out loud so that it's a surprise for the person. You guys could put it in your bags so that you won't forget the names when you get home."

"How do we know who got us?" Ted asked.

"It's a surprise, Ted." Carol said passing out the papers.

They each got one and tried to remember what it said. Since none of them could, they hurriedly put the slips of paper into their bags so that they could look at it for later reference.

"Who did you get?" Melissa whispered to Paul.

"I can't tell you." he whispered back. "It's a secret."

"Did you get me?" she asked.

"It's a secret." he said.

"I got Ted." she whispers. "And I don't know what to get for him."

"Um, Carol said not to tell anyone." he said slightly louder. "But he said to me he wants a firetruck."

"Like a toy?"

"No." he explained. "A real firetruck."

"That's too expensive." she said. "And heavy."

"That's just what he said." Paul said before sitting at a seat next to Emma to watch her make some papercrafts.

"Guys, I have to do something really important first." Carol announced to the class. "I just have to go to Chad's room really quickly." she picked up a small wrapped present and left the room.

"Paul." Emma said looking up realizing his presence.

"Yeah?"

"You're friends with Bill right?"

"Yeah." he said.

"What should I get for Secret Santa then?"

"What?" he shook his head. "It's supposed to be secret!"

"It's fine." she said. "It's still a secret to Bill. So what should I get him?"

"No!" he said. "Nothing." he pouted.

"I will give you this boat if you tell me." she pushed a paper boat nearer to him.

He looked down at the paper boat. It was the neatest paper boat that she had made that day. So it meant business.

"Okay," he whispered. "Bill told me he wanted a Velociraptor figurine."

"Verochira?" Emma said confusedly. "Can you say it slower?"

"V e l o c i r a p t o r F i g u r i n e." he said as if stuck in slow motion.

"Oh." Emma said. "Thanks, Paul." she slid over the paper boat and proceeded to make another one.

Paul took the paper boat and inspected it. He had just done something wrong and he wanted to make diddly darn sure that he got his off the deal. Then he put it in his bag where Ted interrupted him and stood too close to him.

"Hey," he said. "I saw you talking to Emma."

"I was."

"Do you know what she wants for Secret Santa? Because I got her."

Paul zipped his bag closed with as much ferocity as his little child hands could. He proceeded to walk away while trying not to notice Ted's existence.

But Ted had other ideas. He grabbed Paul's arm and pulled him. Paul whined as a defense mechanism which unfortunately would only have worked if Carol were here. But she wasn't.

"What should I get her, Paul?" he asked again.

"I think she would like squirt guns." he said. "Because before when he had a play date, she would not stop squirting me and we were just in her room."

Ted blinked. "I don't want to get ger a squirt gun."

"Why?"

"She'll shoot me."

"It won't have water when you give it to her." Paul said. "She has to fill it first."

"You're right!" Ted said. "She should just not go to the bathroom! Girls don't pee anyway, right?"

"What?" Paul asked.

"Girls don't have peepee." he said. "It's in the name. You need a peepee to pee."

"But I saw Melissa pee once."

"I don't believe you."

"Ask her."

"No." he said. "Girls can't pee."

Paul backs away to Charlotte hiding behind Cornelius for protection.

* * *

"Hello there." Chad said looking up from his work. "They're outside right now if you're wondering."

"Why're your kids always outside?"

"Because I trust they won't get hurt." Chad said. "The worst I got was a very politically heated discussion out on the playground."

"That MacNamara kid, right?"

"Yup."

"Anywho, Merry Christmas!" she said putting a present on his desk. Chad flinched for a second as if the present would just explode on impact with his desk. But it didn't. So he opened it.

"Mum of the House." Chad read the side of the mug he was gifted while trying not to laugh. "That's just great isn't it? I just broke my mug yesterday while trying to show them what a capital 'K' looks like."

"I know." she said. "Henry sent me the video."

"By the way," Chad opened a drawer in his desk revealing a wrapped gift and gave it to her. "Happy Christmas!"

"Oh!" Carol opened the gift on the spot and saw a very small sweater. "A very small sweater. I'm afraid my size." she chuckled. "And look at that. It says 'Happy Hannukah' and we even get a little Menorah." she folded it up. "It looks very nice but why's it so small?"

"It's for Kevin." Chad said.

"My cat?"

"I'm sure she'll love it." he said.

"I'm sure she will." Then she just left.

* * *

"Um, Paul?" Charlotte asked. "Can I tell you a secret."

"No." Paul said. "That's a secret."

"It's a secret I can tell."

"Then it's not a secret." he said.

"I got Melissa for the Secret Santa."

"You can't tell me that!" he said covering his ears.

"But I just wanted to ask." she said. "You guys talk a lot and I don't know what to get for her." she looked at him and tried to make some cute puppy dog eyes. "I don't want to get her a gift that will make her sad because that will make me sad."

Paul looked back in guilt. It didn't help at all that when he tried to look away, he just locked eyes with Cornelius and he could not say not to Cornelius like that.

"Okay fine." he said. "She keeps on saying she wants a Frozen makeup set from Justice so that she can look like Elsa. She also said she wants to be Elsa so that's something."

"Thank you, Paul!" Charlotte said.

Paul left so that he could not have to deal with this anymore. He chose to sit with Bill since he was just playing with some blocks silently and he wanted to join.

"Everyone's telling me who they got for Secret Santa." Paul said.

"I got you for Secret Santa."

"No!" he said covering his ears. "It's a secret! Why did you tell me?"

"Because everyone else told you already and I want to know what you want for Christmas."

"I want PEACE and QUIET and-" Paul's rant was interrupted by Carol entering the room.

She saw him yelling near Bill which was very uncharacteristic of him because 1) he would never yell and 2) not at Bill at least.

"Paul? Do you want to talk with me outside?"

"Yes please!" he said leaving the room with her.

"Why were you using your outside voice, Paul?"

"Because everyone told me who they got for Secret Santa and they all asked me what they should give for Secret Santa."

"Wait, what?" Carol asked. "They all asked you?"

"Yes." he said. "All of them. I thought it was secret?"

"It was supposed to be." Carol said.

"I know!" Paul said.

"I guess we can't have _Secret_ Santa anymore, huh?"

"Yes." he said. "It is not secret."

* * *

"Henry! Get a load of this!" Chad passed Henry his phone while barely containing his own laughter.

"What is it?" Henry said taking a closer look at the video.

The video was captioned with 'Thanks for the gift' by Carol.

It started when she looked at the camera and said "Kevin really likes the sweater. Except she doesn't seem to want to take it off. She has to take a bath soon. Ken's doing everything he can to get it off her." she said chuckling into the camera. Then she pointed it to Ken and Kevin who looked to be in a duel. Both of them anticipating every attack and neither of them willing to lose. Ken went in for the attack but Kevin jumped out of the way. You can hear Carol giggling in the background. Ken then resorted to throwing a towel on Kevin to distract her. But Kevin dodged that as well. The video ended with Ken attempting to tackle Kevin which only ended with Kevin leaping towards his face with Carol wheezing in the background. The video gets cut off with a scream from Ken.

Henry and Chad started wheezing as well.

"What did you get?" Henry asked.

"I got this." Chad said gesturing to a mug in his hand filled to the brim with coffee.

"She got you coffee?"

"The mug, dumbass." he said. "Look closer."

Henry took one look at the big bright bold pink letters to understand what he was dealing with. "I thought I was the 'Mum of the House'?"

Chad took a long sip of his coffee. "Not anymore."


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright," Chad said as he popped on into Carol's classroom before class started. "Wanna bet on who's class has more water bottles?"

"What do you want to get from it?"

"Lunch?" He asked.

Carol sighed. "Alright. I bet my class will win, though."

* * *

"Good morning you guys." Carol said once all of the students have arrived. "I hope that you all brought some water bottles for the water bottle drive."

"I didn't bring any because my mom and dad said that they need it." Emma said. "So I can't bring any."

"That's okay." Carol said. "Why don't we count how many we _do_ have?"

"I brought two." Melissa said holding one water bottle. "But Paul said he didn't have any so I gave him one."

"You know I don't have any, though." Paul said. "You've been to my house. My mom said we drink from the tap or we don't drink." he mentioned the rule despite the fact that he was once scolded for drinking water directly from the tap 'like a horse'.

"I have six." Charlotte said plopping down little water bottles that were definitely the type that one would see during a birthday party complete with the little ponies on the plastic wrapped around it.

"Well, I have this BIG ONE!!" Ted said, proudly presenting a large water bottle; one more typically used with water dispensers. "I think this should count as one HUNDRED!"

"That would be really great." Carol said, receiving the water bottle and made a mental note to count this water bottle as a hundred later when she meets Chad after class.

"I brought thirty-five." Bill dragged toward her three large tote bags filled with assorted water bottles of all shapes and sizes.

"Wow, that's a lot." Carol said, helping Bill carry the water bottles. "How did you find all of these?"

"Last night," Bill said. "I asked all of my neighbors in my apartment."

"That's nice." Carol said, continuing to place all of the water bottles in a large box for recycling. It would be picked up at the end of the day.

* * *

"Mom?" Bill said entering his mother's room carefully making sure that he was not intruding her time. She was at a desk on her computer doing something all too grown up for Bill that must be very important. "I forgot something for school tomorrow."

"What is it, dear?" she asked him, rotating in her swivel chair in an action that he has always wanted to replicate.

"They're getting the water bottles in school tomorrow and I forgot to ask you if we have any." he said. "I don't know where they are."

"Oh, it's nothing, Bill." she said, leading him to the kitchen to look for any water bottles that they had in the house. There were a few, of course. But there were only about three. With Bill wishing to an overachiever, however, he had better ideas.

"What if I ask the neighbors if they have water bottles also?" he asked.

"That would be a great idea." Bill's mother started. She thought of a better way to respond to him so as to not diminish his curiosity. "But would it be a good idea for me to come with you?"

"Yeah!" He said before running to get some shoes to put on. He went and got a random tote bag and waited for his mother to follow along.

"What if we brought more than one tote bag since we're asking everyone in the apartment?" she said as she got a few more bags just in case.

"That would be a good idea." He said as they both set off for their water bottle collecting journey.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Bill had reached the final apartment in their block to ask for their water bottles. He knocked on the door with his left hand, seeing as his right was carrying the smallest tote bag his mother brought.

The door opened to reveal a woman. She had shorter, messy hair and had a short sleeved shirt over a long sleeved shirt so it was pretty obvious that she was vibing.

"Hello there, little guy." she greeted Bill when he gestured to his tote bag. "What's your name?"

"I'm Bill." he introduced himself. "What's your name?" He returned the question politely like he was taught.

"I'm Millie." she said. "Do you need anything?"

"Do you have water bottles?" he asked her. "We are going to recycle."

"Oh," she said. "I don't have any. I actually live waste free. All of my garbage from the past five years fits in a little mason jar." she vaguely gestured in the direction of the mason jar that she had displayed in her living room as a statement piece.

Bill looked up at her with amazement in his eyes. "Five years? I'm five also! What's that?" he pointed to a painting he noticed behind the lady. It was paint on a large canvas and was some form of abstract expressionism. It was a mess of colors which definitely is a great way to describe the woman.

"That's a painting." she said. "I painted this a few months ago. You like it?"

"Yes, it's very nice."

"Wanna come in?" she motioned for him to enter.

He looked at his mother for some guidance but she shrugged. It has been a while since Bill has gone out or talked to so many people on his own accord, so she thought that this could possibly be a great learning experience for him.

So they entered.

The easiest way to describe her house would be interesting. Her living room had all sorts of trinkets ranging from crystals on some tables and few more paintings all strewn throughout her house all resembling the same style. But at the centerpiece of the living room, there was an older rug with a snazzy pattern on it and an older television with a thicker back than most current televisions.

"You have a lot of paintings." Bill said.

"I do." The woman said.

"Did you make all of this?" he asked as he scrutinized the art more closely. He thought it was hard to follow given the random nature of her art. "There's so many colors!"

Millie went over to her refrigerator to get some water but Bill saw a container featuring some brown - one could say dirty - mass where the container was labelled 'lunch'.

"Is that dirt in your fridge?"

"Yes," she said. "I have a little bit of a stomach bug. I read online that it helps."

Then Bill's mother's phone suddenly rang where it turns out his father was calling both of them to dinner.

"You eat dirt?!"

* * *

"There was no way a real-life woman was eating dirt!" Emma said. "That's dirty."

"Well, Doug did eat some dirt yesterday." Ted said. "Turns out all it took was two dollars."

"But I saw it in her fridge!" Bill confirmed. "She also had all of her garbage in the last five years fit into a mason jar."

"Five years?!" Ted responded. " _I'm_ five! That's weird."

"Maybe it was a big jar." Charlotte said. "I think if the jar was big enough it could fit all of her garbage in it."

"No, it was a small jar." he said as he almost pinched two fingers together emphasizing a little space. "Like this big."

"Did she eat the dirt?" Paul asked. "Why would she even do that?"

"She said she had tummy problems." Bill responded. "She was probably sick."

"So should I eat dirt if I'm sick?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know. I'm not Carol."

* * *

"So how many you got?" Chad asked Carol in a suspicious manner. "I have 50. Each kid had a couple."

"Well, I have 44 so I think that's close enough." she said plopping a box next to him. "Also, Bill brought in like 80 percent of these. He went around his apartment block." she picked up the bottle that Ted brought in. “And I think _this_ counts as at least a hundred!”

"Isn't that cheating, though?" Chad asked. “If that were the case, this box is worth a thousand.”

"I think what's important is that we're recycling."

"Okay, loser." he jested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Note: Millie is an OC (she has appeared before in another fic of mine lol)


End file.
